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James Blazer
James Phillip Lander '''(born May 30th, 1991) better known by his ring name '''James Blazer, is an American professional wrestler who strictly works on the independent scene currently. He was previously best known for his time with Elite Dynasty Federation (EDF) where he and Evan O'Shea were EDF World Tag Team Champions, with their reign lasting a combined total of 346 days before the league eventually folded. He's also known for his brief stint as ASW United States Championship in Action Star Wrestling (ASW), and run in the tag team division with former trainee Josh McCloud, known formally as the Renegade Killers, as WTW Tag Team Champions in World Triumphant Wrestling (WTW). He also once hosted a multi-promotional event known as Blazer's Halloween Havoc Series that's supposedly rumored to eventually return. Defunct Leagues Elite Dynasty Federation (2012 - 2013) .]] On the 2nd episode of EDF, Danny Jackpot and Biff Andreas, come out to ringside and reluctantly announce that Emily O'Shea has decided to force them to defend their EDF World Tag Team Championships against mystery opponents to qualify for the EDF Elimination Chamber match at EDF Collision, tonight. Jackpot doesn't care who it is, because he"ll defend them against which ever tag team decides to come out right now. His answer? James Blazer making his shocking debut in front of the crowds of millions in attendance, which might've surprised the two current tag team champs at the time. Unfortunately, Jackpot wasn't amused at the newcomer coming out and mocked Blazer, telling him that there's nobody that would want to team up with the likes of him. But Blazer says that Danny may be a CAW Legend, but that doesn't mean he didn't find a tag team partner for tonight. Rudely, Jackpot responds "Who would want to throw their career away with some rookie like you?" . Thus, making Blazer and Evan O'Shea new EDF World Tag Team Champions.]] Well, it turns out to be Evan O'Shea who's willing to help out. With no more said, the match begins. But Blazer is beaten down by these two men, back and forth. Then, Danny decides to tag in Andreas and suddenly betrayed him by hitting a DDT. Dragging Blazer on to his now seemingly former partner, he orders the referee to count the pinfall. And just like that, James Blazer and Evan O'Shea become the new EDF World Tag Team Champions in a controversial victory. On the next episode 3 of EDF Showtime, Blazer and O'shea, along with John Blackrose, went against the stable of K-On! World Order made up of Mikey, David Erro, and Haduken. Blazer picked up a win by submission, making Mikey tap out to the sharpshooter. The duo issued an open challenge against whatever tag team wanted to come after their titles, and that was announced during a promo shoot that O'Shea did, which came from NAW who told him that Steven Raden and Andrew Liana wanted to challenge them for the titles. Evan accepted, agreeing to the fair match. However, Blazer didn't give them a warm welcome with his tweets and video reacting to these men he'd face at EDF Collision. The comments making fun of their league and how they were jobbers. !]] Finally after all backlash, Blazer and O'Shea fought against the NAW outsiders in a heated battle, which led to many pinfalls by both teams. Right when Liana tagged in Raden, Blazer reversed the clothesline from the fast pace wrestler and hit him with a Spades Of Hell, followed by the powerful Detour to end the match, and retain the EDF World Tag Team Titles. On the 5th Episode of EDF ShowTime, Blazer would take on Danny Jackpot in a one-on-one dream match, which was brought up over the past months, and was now happening. Blazer held his own against the 22-Time World Heavyweight Champion, with the experience of 8 years, in a well fought match. It wasn't until Biff Andreas had came out to stare Danny down, after his match was interfered by him earlier that night. With that, Blazer hit a Dragon Suplex that turned into a pin, and within seconds the match was finally over. The crowd popped like a bunch of fireworks going off at once, which was quite appropriate for this shocking victory, and perhaps sparked an even brighter future for James Blazer in his EDF career. O'Shea and Blazer would defend their titles on the 4th Episode of EDF Livewire against K-On! World Order, ending with Blazer hitting his Detour on Mikey in a quick finish. While celebrating another victory, suddenly Giant Guppy and Hannah Layla assault the both men in the ring. Guppy gets on the mic, saying that Blazer and O'Shea were "complaining" about there not being enough competition, calling them no names, and bragging about Cradle Shock being multi-time New-WWE Tag Team Champions. Cradle Shock even had the gall to call them "Children" or "Kids", and then demand a title shot, saying that they'll keep attacking them until they accept the offer. They'd later accept the offer on Twitter after the event. At Leathel Lottery, Blazer and O'Shea were scheduled to defend their titles against Cradle Shock, however, Blazer was found knocked out in the park lot during the Pre-Show, and was rushed to the hospital with his condition unknown. Miles Martinez would replace him in this bout, retaining the titles and thus winning it. It was later announced that Martinez signed a contract with EDF. It was also stated that him and O'Shea would have new name for the team, which questions Blazer's status as 1/2 of the champions. It's debatable on if they're 1/3 or Blazer is excluded perhaps. EDF has yet to release a statement about this. On Twitter, Blazer explained that he wasn't sure of who attacked him, but did see that the attacker had triforces on his tights before passing out on the concrete floor. Following this event, EDF closed its door without any continuation of this storyline. Action Star Wrestling (2011 - 2012) Debuting with a title reign. on his debut.]] He signed a contract on October 29th. He debuted on the Extreme Zone brand in Episode 19, going against Kane for the ASW United States Championship. He won the title successfully, thus making it his very first title reign in ASW. In Episode 22, he successfully defeated Alex Striker in a non-title match for the ASW United States Championship, with the announcers proclaiming if he won many of his matches and if ended up losing the title, a future shot at the ASW Championship would be a possibility. Blazer was expected to be in a Triple Threat Steel Cage Match that would've unified his United States Championship with Cody Rhodes ASW Intercontinental Championship, against Evan O'Shea at the ASW One Night Action CPV. But ASW had closed it's doors as of August 4th,2012. Therefore cancelling the whole event entirely. His reign as champion lasted nearly 236 days before being retired. World CAW Wrestling (2012) On July 2nd, James Blazer debuted in a Thunder Webmatch against Dwayne Chambers, whom he defeated in nearly 6 minutes. Back in May, Blazer signed a contract to be apart of WCW's Thunder brand, but it's unknown when production of the show will continue sooner or later though. But there was fortunately some sort of video to provide a look at Blazer's skills at the very least. But later, the Thunder brand would close down following The Vivianverse kicking out WCW and thus seemingly ending Blazer's possible run, but his contract was transferred to TME Brand after the following closing. But TME never got started, and it was turned into WSX (Wrestling Society X). Blazer was later decided to be put into the Nitro brand in a mini-draft, thus being his second and final contract transfer. He made his debut on WCW Nitro Episode 26, but came up short against Jack Chatman. Unfortunately, this would be his last match due to a major roster cut by the WCW Booking Group. Wrestling Heaven (2013 - 2014) Blazer made his debut on Wrestling Heaven Episode 71 - SmackDown, where he defeated Justin Gabriel in 4-mintues flat. In the next episode, he'd face the Intercontinental Champion, John Morrison in a Non-Title Match, which he lost. Blazer would later go on to face Triple H in a Team SmackDown Qualifying Match, where he'd lose to a huge pedigree. After the match, Damien Sandow would make his debut, degrading a downed Blazer, then hit him with an elbow afterwards. This would be the last Smackdown ever made by Wrestling Heaven due to its closure. Wrestling Society X (2012) Being created by the same owner of WCW as a separate league, James Blazer was the first to be signed to a contract ever since the roster cut. However, this league was abandoned for a new one called Battle Zone. Battle Zone (2012 - 2013) Yet another league created by the same owner of the now defunct WCW and WSX, which Blazer was signed to on November 29th, 2012. It closed down later in 2013, due to the owner losing inspiration after his aunt died. Aggressive Reckless Wrestling (2012 - 2013) Similar to the defunct CAW League, Action Star Wrestling, Alex Striker decided to create an alleged "New Breed Of Wrestling" by creating a new one. Blazer signed a contract for the promotion recently, and is expected to be in a 6-Man Ladder Match for the ARW United States Championship. However, the owner shut down the league our of sear laziness and no development made in process. It's Walleh Time (2013 - 2014) On IWT Xtra 20, Blazer won his debut match against TY. He went on to compete in the 20-Man Instant Rumble at FNW & IWT Make A Statement, where he won the IWT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship three different times in a row. However, he came up short and was the eliminated last by Republican Ho. World Triumphant Wrestling (2012 - 2016) On Episode 2 of Beatdown, Blazer made his debut against Cody Rhodes. Blazer had won the match via roll-up, which had given him bad publicity to some of the WTW staff. Beatdown Commentator, Nathan, stated clearly: "Blazer obviously can't win the match like a man, so he has to roll him up."'' The following week, Blazer was absent from the Beatdown locker room. However, his prodigy, Josh McCloud, took on Rhodes, during the match, Cody brought a chair in the ring and tried to hit McCloud, McCloud avoided the shot and rolled Cody up. On episode 4, Blazer joined the commentators Josh and Nathan, where he spent most of his commentary arguing with Nathan. About half-way through the show, Cody had a rematch with McCloud, midway through the match, Cody hit a low blow on McCloud. After the ref told him he was DQ'd, he ambushed McCloud until Blazer decided it was enough and he swarmed Rhodes out of the ring. When Cody was at the stage, Blazer got a mic and told him he would be facing Rhodes at Canadian Invasion in a 15-minute Iron Man match with McCloud at his side. In which afterwards he replied: "Because I simply want to prove I can get more pins than you in that amount of time". At the CPV, Blazer was able to score 2 falls(1 via roll-up, 1 via pin) and Rhodes was able to pick up 3(at the end of the match, Cody hit 3 Cross-Rhodes on Blazer and pinned him with less than eight seconds to go. Many believe the final fall was false because some claims to have saw Blazer's foot on the ropes). At Final Verdict, Blazer and Josh McCloud defeated Cody Rhodes and Nate Farron to win the vacant WTW Tag Team Championships. Calling themselves the "Renegade Killers", they'd go on to compete against various teams such as The PrimeTime Players, New Wrecking Crew, and plenty of others before eventually losing their titles to New Wrecking Crew at Blood Ties where McCloud ultimately betrayed Blazer by assisting in having Erik McGregor pin him. This would lead to these men officially disband, thus going their own separate ways for the time being. Blazer wouldn't make his return until Battlebowl, where he competed in the 30-man battle royal to determine the #1 contender for the WTW Championship at Wrestlemania. He'd go eliminate three men: Antonio Ceasro, Drew Galloway, and his former tag partner Josh McCloud until finally being eliminated by CM Punk. He'd make his official return on Episode 21 of Point Blank (formerly known as Beatdown) where he defeated Jinder Mahal. On Episode 25, he'd defeat Evan O'Shea before calling McCloud out for a challenge at his WTW Intercontinental Championship in a No Holds Barred match, which was gladly accepted by McCloud albeit on-screen instead of in the ring. At Wrestlemania the two former partners would face off for nearly twenty minutes before McCloud eventually succeeded in conquering Blazer to defend the title. He wouldn't make his return until New Year's Revolution, where Blazer won a six-man battle royal against various other competitors during the pre-show. On Episode 33, he fought against Bad News Barrett in an outstanding victory. At Canadian Invasion 2, he and Seth Rollins wrestled in a Tables match that Blazer lost in order to properly receive time off from in-ring action after suffering an rotatory cuff injury during a live event back in March. He'd later wait out his contract until being released mid-July without any further appearances, mutually parting ways with the league on his behalf. Special Appearances 'Nightmare Before Christmas (2012) ' Blazer made an appearance on behalf of EDF to compete against his tag team partner, Evan O'Shea. They were both holders of the EDF World Tag Team Championships, thus making it a Champion V.S. Champion Match. James had much offense up against O'Shea, but it was quite the battle either way. In the end, it took The Shea Slayer to end it all, and Blazer ended up losing to O'Shea after a hard fought match. Personal Life Growing up in a wrestling oriented household, Lander had been watching wrestling since he'd been only four. This often led to him wrestling against his friends in his backyard on a trampoline, which he later went on to host fictional shows that defended paper titles. As the years went by, they'd lost interest in wrestling except for Lander himself. His former buddies had the tendency to tease him, saying he was nothing but a dreamer trying to reach the impossible. They even gave him the typical spiel about wrestling being "gay", that he should just give into an inevitable blue collar job instead of pursuing something "homoerotic". Despite their ridicule towards his seemingly infeasible career choice, he stated in an interview that he "just kept going" no matter what'd been said about him regardless. After graduating straight out of high school, Lander started learning basic wrestling in SECW Training School to kickstart his career. He'd also go on to eventually train with notable names such as AJ Styles, Drew Galloway, Diamond Dallas Page throughout short spurts as he developed his wrestling style. Lander once practiced a hybrid of Puroresu with legendary Japanese wrestler Jushin Thunder Liger while visiting Japan during an EDF tour, but described the experience as 'painful' since Liger supposedly worked stiffed with him in purpose. Despite enduring the harsh training, he didn't regret one particular thing - seeing Liger eat with his mask on. Because of Lander being a quick learner, he was able to start wrestling at the ripe age of nineteen, and debuted as '''James Blazer' on his local independent scene. He initially began wrestling in 2010, but wouldn't be noticed by any promotions until 2012 since it'd been difficult to maintain the necessary funds to travel outside of Florida. He worked at Subway for minimum wage before finally receiving his first official contract from Action Star Wrestling (ASW) back in 2011. When asked about the reasoning behind naming his finisher the "Detour", he simply answered with "when you're on the road as a wrestler, there's always a 'detour' toward the next best opportunity". During mid-March of 2015, Lander suffered a rotatory cuff injury during a live event for WTW which led him to taking time off to recover for the next four months. Despite recovering in a short amount of time, he eventually decided to take time off regain any muscle mass he'd lost months prior. He would appear once in awhile to wrestle a few events and bookings, but explains that his performances were "poorly executed" after returning and Lander took the entire year of 2015 to retool his style wrestling and attempt at bettering himself. He only recently came back this year full-time after feeling more confident with his in-ring work. He's currently into collecting all sorts of pins that range from different countries to specific hobbies that interest him, and has over 245 pins going strong. Lander has kept into consideration about opening a training facility someday down the road, but feels as though he wouldn't be able to teach anything that would be too essential nor beneficial apart from cooking a mean steak. He's only had a single student as of this writing - Josh McCloud. When asked about whether he traveled around with anyone throughout his career, Lander mentioned that he essentially went along with anyone you could possibly imagine. He especially traveled along side his trio of wrestling buddies - Brent Delivine , Evan O'Shea, and Malik Brown. Lander states that though they haven't conversed in quite awhile, he still considers them great friends nonetheless and wishes only the best for them. He's heavily into gaming, though limits himself from it mostly for training purposes. He feels that if there's too many distractions, there won't be much time for intensive workouts either. The latter goes for anime also. Lander is a keen Pepsi addict despite it being unhealthy at certain doses. He explained his reasoning behind continuing to drink soda revolves around him being able to "stay up twice as much" during nights where he sometimes trains late or happens to be losing his edge, but knows there's probably better alternatives. He also enjoys eating a couple snacks here and there, but prefers vegetables usually. He's not actually that great at poker shockingly enough. "Gimmicks are gimmicks, nothing more. If they help you standout when trying out for a promotion, just go for it," Lander told a trust CAW news source. "Lemarcus wore a tophat, Jackpot pranced around in a fishnet shirt, and heck, even Tyler King himself once lived up his own surname by wearing an actual robe. Mine was just less subtle in practice I suppose." In Wrestling Finishing Moves * Detour (Inverted front powerslam) * Sharpshooter Signature Moves * Spades Of Hell (Butterfly Suplex) * Ace Express (Gunslinger) Nicknames * "The King Of Cards" * "Ace Of Spades" * "The Detour Specialist" * "Corkscrew Maniac" Wrestlers Trained * Josh McCloud Entrance Themes * "Deny" by Default (ASW; 2012 - 2013) * "Tear It Up" by Hollywood Undead EDF 2012 - 2013; used while teaming with Evan O'Shea) * "Survival Of The Sickest" by Saliva (ARW/WH/BZ/WSX/WCW/EDF/WTW/BAW ; 2012 - 2016) * "Eye On It" by Tobymac (WTW; 2012 - 2013; used while teaming with Josh McCloud as the Renegade Killers) * "The Fire Inside Me" '''by Main Event (Independent; February 7th, 2016 - Present) Championships and Accomplishments '''Action Star Wrestling *ASW United States Championship (1x) Elite Dynasty Federation *EDF World Tag Team Championship (1x) - with Evan O'Shea It's Walleh Time *IWT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (3x) World Triumphant Wrestling *WTW Tag Team Championship (1x) - with Josh McCloud Something CAWful CAW Awards *CAW To Look Out For In 2013 (2012)